New Beginnings
by HipsterMaybe
Summary: "His head was spinning with the memory of Danny's blood. Now matter how many times he cleaned himself, he would always be marked with it, like some morbid tattoo." Just a little one shot for ya'll. Danny whump, lots of Steve angst. I don't own Hawaii Five-0...yet.


**What to write about today…hmmmm. Well, I'll just see where this takes me. Hope you guys like it! And for you Catheirne lovers/haters out there, even if she is involved in one of my stories, she will never be a major part of them. I don't love her and I don't hate, I just think she was better when she was in the Navy and occasionally made and appearance on the show. She's just kinda of a meh character. Oh, and sorry for any spelling/grammar mistakes. The ancient laptop I'm using while the Geek Squad revives my other one is so slow that it can't keep up with what I type so sometimes it'll skip letters, spaces, or rearrange letters. I've read through it, but I might've missed some.**

As the truck pulled into the small dirt clearing, Danny looked around. Before Steve and Danny got out of the car, they glanced at each other and drew their weapons. Catheirne followed their lead and they silently made their way into the forest. They walked for about a mile before they came across the marker Quinlin had told them about. Although relieved to see it, they approached cautiously. Jack Quinlin had been theire big break in the case. For months, they had been two steps behind the Oturo crime family. Everywhere the Oturo's went, robberies, murders, and other illegal actions followed. It was only when they had found a flash drive and Oturo courrier that they had intercepted that they began to see the shape of why the Oturo's were really in Hawaii. While Charlie had been unable to crack the incription, Toast somehow found a way in and what he shared with Five-0 scared them. The flash drive contained sensitive information on the United State's Pacific military and all of their operations. How this information was obtained, they didn't know. However, what they did know after interrogating the courrier, Jack Quinlin, was that whatever was on this flash drive, he was supposed to take to a North Korean buyer on the North shore. But Quinlin also told them that there was more. At least ten other flash drives of similar content were hidden out in the woods by a cabin the Oturo's owned and Quinlin was supposed to give on of these to the buyer every week to ensure he still paid them. Following the directions Quilin had given them, Steve, Danny, and Catherine had gone after the flash drives while Chin and Kono worked on IDing the buyer. Quinlin had mentioned that he suspected that the Oturo's had people out there to guard the drives. When they reached the marker, they glanced around, then Steve and Danny dug them up as Catherine stood watch. Once they unearthed the small bag of flash drives, the filled the hole back in.

"Alright, let's get out of here. There still might be-" the rest of Steve's words were cut off by a gunshot. They all ducked. luckily, none of them had been hit, but they knew that if they didn't start moving, the bullets would find them. They sprinted the mile back to the car. Just as they reached the clearing, Steve heard the wet thud of a bullet hitting flesh and saw Danny go down.

"No, Danny!" he yelled as he rushed over to his fallen partner.

"Steve, come on! We've gotta go! I'll cover you, just get him to the car!" Catherine yelled. Knowing that if they didn't get out of there as soon as possible, the Oturo's would kill them, Steve hooked an arm around Danny and hauled him into the backseat. Catherine was in the driver's seat seconds later and they were tearing away from the forest. In the safety of the car, Steve now had time to examine his friend. A large hole had been torn through Danny's abdomen and blood was pouring out of his body faster than Steve could stop it. Grabbing the jacket he kept in the back seat, Steve pressed it into the wound in a futile attempt to slow the bleeding. The bright red of the blood stood out in stark contrast to the ashen skin it stained. As Danny's eyes began to close and his breathing grew more ragged and shallow, Steve gently slapped his cheeks.

"Come on Danny. Stay with me, man. We'll be there soon, just hold on." He could actually feel his Danny's heart slowing, his eyes closing. "No no no no! Danny please!" Danny looked up at him, his eyes tired.

"G-g-g…" Danny tried to speak, but only blood came out.

"Oh God! Shhh, Danny. Try not to talk. You'll be okay. We're almost there."

"G-gr-ace..." Danny choked out. Steve knew what Danny meant.

"No. No, you are not giving up on me! Don't you dare leave Gracie without a father. C'mon man!"

"P-pl-ease."

"You know I will Danny, buy you're not gonna die. You can't leave me!"

"N'g'nna m'k it. Y-you…be 'kay." Danny said as his eyes closed.

"Danny? Danny! No, come on Danny please! Please! You don't get to this!" Steve yelled in anguish as he tried to do CPR. By the time the truck pulled into the parking lot of the ER, Steve was covered in blood. Once the doctors had gone and taken Danny away, Steve found that he could only stand there in shock. He felt hands, probably Catherine's, on his arm, but he didn't want to feel so he ignored them. After a while, the hands left. How long he stood there, just staring, he didn't know. It was the ringing of his cell phone that brought him back to the present.

"McGarrett." he answered, his voice trembling. He hadn't even bothered to check the caller ID.

"_Hey Steve, did you guys find those flash drives?"_ Chin asked. Steve swallowed, thinking of what those drives had cost them. Danny could be dead. He had already died, actually. His fate was now in the doctors' hands all because of those damn drives. "_Steve? You still there?"_

"Danny…he…I don't even know if…" his brain couldn't express a complete thought.

"_Steve? What happened? Is Danny okay? Talk to me, brah_."

"We got the drives, but…Danny…he…he got hit. Bad."

"_Where are you guys?"_

"Tripler."

"_We're on our way, okay? Fifteen minutes_." Chin managed to make it ten.

"Steve!" Kono yelled as she ran to him, Chin close behind. Her hand flew to her mouth as she the blood that covered her boss and the blood on the inside of the truck and on the asphalt below. So much blood. "Oh my God…is that…Danny's?" Steve had only just noticed the blood and he froze. He felt sick and his legs felt weak. Ignoring the blood for a moment, Chin took Steve's arm and led him inside.

"Come on, you're probably in shock Steve. Let's get you sitting down for a while, okay?" Chin said gently. Shock? No, SEALs didn't get grossed out by blood. But it had never been Danny's blood. In a soft whisper, although he doubted Steve could hear him, Chin leaned to Kono. "I have a spare set of clothes in the trunk. Grey backpack." She nodded and ran to the car they had arrived in. Chin led Steve into the building, tuning out the gasps from the nurses, and took Steve straight to the bathroom. Once inside, Chin helped Steve sit against the wall. Kono came in and they both began to wet paper towels and wipe the blood off of their leader. Steve sat there, pale and shaking, thinking about those last moments in the car, with Danny choking on his own blood in a desperate plea for Steve to continue to love and protect his daughter. He had needed to hear Steve say it before he could let go. His head was spinning with the memory of Danny's blood. Now matter how many times he cleaned himself, he would always be marked with it, like some morbid tattoo. He felt the cousins gently pull him to his feet.

"We're going to go ask about Danny. There's some clean clothes in that bag. Take your time." Kono said softly. When they had left, Steve pulled out the clothes. A few minutes later, although he didn't remember doing it, he was dressed in Chin's clothes and he held the bloody ones over the garbage can. After a deep breath, he released them and allowed them to leave his hand. When he left the men's room, he saw Chin and Kono seated across the waiting room, staring at the floor. Wordlessly, he sat opposite them. Chin laid a hand on his knee.

"There's nothing on Danny yet, but no news is good news, brah." While Steve knew this was true, it just hurt more. When his mother had "died", there had been no long wait for the inevitable. The same with his father. Both had gone so fast. But this not knowing was killing him. He squeezed his eyes shut and put his head in his hands. He felt Kono sit down beside him and gently rub his back. He felt her hot tears drip onto the fabric of the thin cotton shirt. Chin sat on his other side, and put his hand on Steve's knee again. This is what they did. Closer than any family, they came together, each both giving and taking comfort from one another. They didn't speak. There were no words for this. They just sat there, holding on to the ones they loved and praying for their fourth. Hours went by, but they didn't notice. They didn't notice much of anything until a tall man in a white coat walked up to them.

"Excuse me, are you Detective Williams' family?" the man asked softly.

"Yes." They chorused in unison. Blood or not, they were all Danny's family.

"I'm Dr. Sousa, I've been handling Daniel's case since he was brought in."

"Is he…alive?" Steve asked, his voice threatening to break_._ Sousa smiled.

"We were able to revive him. I won't lie, it was bad, but I believe Daniel can pull through this." Sousa said as he took a seat across from them. "The bullet passed through his upped abdomen and through his lung, unfortunately hitting an artery on its way through. We've cauterized the artery and patched up the lung. His breathing has actually improved enough that we took him off of the ventilator just before I came out here. Right now, if his body doesn't reject the blood transfusions, he should make a full recovery." Steve raised his eyes from the floor.

"But I…I watched him die."

"Are you Commander McGarrett? The one who came in with him?" Steve nodded. "Then you, sir, are the reason Daniel is still alive."

"What? I…I don't understand. The CPR didn't work."

"No, it didn't restart his breathing, but that was only because his lung had collapsed. The CPR did however keep his circulation going. Commander, you kept the blood flowing to his brain. Not only did you save his life, but it looks like you've prevented any serious brain damage. He may have some short term memory loss, but I don't belive there will be any significant problems."

"So he's okay?" Kono asked, hardly believing that Danny could be doing this well.

"He will be. Don't get me wrong, he has a long recovery ahead of him and he'll need to stay here at least a week, maybe more, but essentially, yes. He's okay. Would you like to go sit with him? He'll be sleeping off the anesthesia for a quite a while, but its always good to wake up to a familiar face." They all nodded and followed Sousa through the hospital's complicated halls.

"We'll be keeping him in the ICU probably until tomorrow morning, but since he's no longer at high risk, we can allow you to stay with him." the doctor said as he stopped before a small room with glass walls. The curtains had been drawn, so they couldn't see Danny. Sousa gave them a smile, then left them alone. Taking a deep breath, Steve pushed open the door. The room was silent save for the soft beep of the heart monitor, but Danny looked far better than he had the last time Steve had seen him. As they sat down in the chairs around the bed, they took in the machines around their friend. Steve was relieved to see only an oxygen mask, two IVs, one for blood and one for pain medication, and the heart monitor on his finger. Nothing major. He vowed then and there to be there for Danny every step of his recovery and to never let him go through any part of this alone. After a few minutes, Chin stood up.

"I'll go call Rachel and give her an update. Catherine had called her earlier before she went to get the drives to HPD."

"I totally forgot. I should've-"

"It's alright. Your head wasn't exactly in the right place. I know you need to be here. I got this." After Chin left the room, Kono looked Steve over.

"You okay, boss?"

"Yeah, I'll…I'll be fine. It's just a lot to take in, you know?" he said with a halfhearted smile.

"Yeah, I'll say." Within a few hours, the oxygen mask had been replaced with a nasal cannula. As the day turned to night and the night faded into early morning, Chin and Kono drifted off, but Steve stayed awake. While he trusted Sousa, he wouldn't belive that his partner was okay until he saw it for himself. He got his wish at around three in the morning. A soft groan from the bed had everyone else in the room awake and alert. Steve stood and leaned over Danny.

"Danno? You with me, man?"

"Ngh…" Danny mumbled.

"Come on, partner. Open your eyes." They all waited, anticipation growing.

"Wha's up with you?" Danny asked tiredly, taking in Steve's pale and disheveled state. Steve stared at him incredulously for a moment, then collapsed back into his chair, scrubbing a hand over his stubble shadowed face. "What? What did I say?" Danny asked, obviously confused. He had no idea why he was in what he assumed was a hospital, but that was not the usual look one is given upon waking up ICU.

"You better have a lot more to say to Steve than that after what happened. Probably shaved about twenty years off of his life with that little incident." Chin said with a broad smile.

"What happened?" Danny asked, still completely confused by his teams behavior. Steve was staring off into the corner while running a hand through his messy hair, Chin was grinning at him, and Kono was giving him a watery smile while holding his hand.

"What happened?" Steve asked, jumping to his feet. "What happened, Danny, is that you got shot and you damn near bled out on me in the truck! You almost died! Hell, I really thought you had! That's what's up with me!" Steve yelled, then started to pace the room. Chin gripped Danny's arm.

"He okay?" Danny asked.

"It's been a lot for him. He just needs time to adjust is all."

"Steve?" Danny asked, getting his partner's attention. "I'm sorry babe. I had no idea. Really. Come on, why don't you sit down before you fall down, Super SEAL." Steve sighed, then sank back into his chair.

"I'm sorry too. What's the last thing you remember? The doctor said you might have some memory loss."

"Uhhhhh, that would be your little fashion show with Grace. Pink dress, sparkly feather boa. You were one hot mess, Steven."

"Really? That's the last thing you remember? Figures…well, that's not too bad. That was last Friday."

"Wait, boss, you put on a _dress_?" Kono asked. "Danny, tell me you have pictures!"

"Of course I do, babe. You really think I would pass up a golden opportunity for black mail like that?"

"Hey, you and I both know that Gracie had a bad day and that it is physically impossible to resist her puppy dog eyes. Chin, I know you've taken her shoe shopping before, so don't give me that look." They all laughed as they felt the normalcy returning to their lives. For the next few hours, they explained to Danny the events of the week until they could no longer keep their eyes open. Eventually, they all ended up sprawled aorund Danny, half on chairs and half on the bed. That was how Rachel and Grace found them. With a look and shrug, they both wriggled into the bed on either side of Danny and joined the rest of their family. They were no traditonal family, they didn't care. Somehow, hey had all found each other and a way to leave their pasts behind. Chin was no longer the dirty cop. Steve was no longer the cold and calculating soldier. Danny was no longer the bitter ex-husband and strict Hawaiian hater. Kono was no longer a memory of a lost opportunity to make it as a pro surfer. And Rachel and Grace were no longer Stan's trophy family since the divorce had been fianlized a month ago. Here, together, they had all found new beginnings.

**Good? Bad? Let me know! I hope Catherine's exit from the story wasn't too weird. And by the way, in almost all of my stories if you haven't noticed already, Rachel is always leaving or has left Stan. I don't like him. At all. If you really would like to know the depths of my hatred for him, read my fic, Kupa'a Kane.**


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